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The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) conducts research with the goal of identifying, advancing, and guiding transformation processes towards sustainable societies. Its research practice is transdisciplinary, transformative, and co-creative. The institute cooperates with partners in academia, political institutions, administrations, civil society, and the business community to understand sustainability challenges and generate potential solutions.

Surface ozone reaches levels that are potentially detrimental to human health in many regions around the globe. Now, a large international team including IASS researcher Erika von Schneidemesser has compiled and analysed data on ground-level ozone from thousands of monitoring stations around the world to shed light on its distribution.

To transport electricity effectively, a superconductor has to be inside an extremely well-insulated tube with an interior temperature of -200°C. Researchers at the IASS, the ESPCI engineering college in Paris, and French cable manufacturer Nexans have now developed a novel form of insulation that is compatible with the low temperatures and the high operating voltage of 320 kilovolts.

Ocean conservation ranked high on the international political agenda in 2017. But did stakeholders succeed in turning the tide towards greater sustainability? Representatives from science, policymaking and civil society met at the IASS on 13-14 December to discuss this.

Dossiers

Temperatures in the Arctic are currently rising twice as fast as in most other regions on the planet, a phenomenon most strikingly evidenced by the decreasing extent and volume of Arctic sea ice over the last decades. At the end of summer 2012, the extent of Arctic sea ice was the lowest since satellite measurements began: a mere 3.41 million km2, which is 49% below the 1979 to 2000 average. Since then, summertime sea ice in the Arctic has remained at a historically very low level. The processes currently under way in the Arctic are embedded in climate, economic, legal and social systems and processes that reach far beyond the Arctic Circle.

Addressing the interlinkages between greenhouse gases, climate change and air quality

Air pollution and climate change are closely related. The main sources of CO2 emissions – the extraction and burning of fossil fuels – are not only key drivers of climate change, but also major sources of air pollutants.